Dante

"Though a fight every now and then does make life a little more interesting, don't ya think?"

- Dante, Devil May Cry 4

Dante is the main protagonist of the Devil May Cry series. He is the second son of the demon Sparda and the human Eva, and the younger twin brother of Vergil. Dante is a paranormal mercenary, private investigator and vigilante Devil Hunter dedicated to exterminating evil demons and other malevolent supernatural forces; a mission he follows in pursuit of those that killed his mother and corrupted his brother.

Appearance
As stated in an interview with original series creator Hideki Kamiya in the Devil May Cry Graphic Edition artbook, the earliest ideas he had for Dante's design were centered around three key points; "[a] long, stylish coat" to make the character "showy", "[a] British man" as Kamiya wanted him to be a "witty, yet traditional fighting man", and "doesn't smoke cigarette[s]", believing that the character was too cool to smoke.

In the same interview, another noted influence on Dante both design wise and character wise was Cobra of the acclaimed Japanese manga and anime series ''Space Adventure Cobra. ''Kamiya believed Cobra's cocky attitude and red attire were key points for a "heroic" character. Ironically, despite Cobra being a heavy cigar smoker, Dante himself does not smoke, as Kamiya believed Dante to be cooler without a cigarette.

Ever since Devil May Cry started development as Resident Evil 4 , Dante has had white hair. It's remained in a consistent style throughout the series, although there are a few differences between installments.

In Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 his hair is somewhat parted with his bangs brushed down; in Devil May Cry 3 his hair is brushed down with his bangs partially covering his eyes, and in Devil May Cry 2 his hair is much thicker, with his bangs parted in front of his right eye.

Dante has worn a myriad of clothing throughout his many appearances, yet his most glaring trait is his affinity for red-colored apparel, often in the form of long, two-tailed coats.

In Devil May Cry 3, Dante wears long, tan colored jeans, black finger-less gloves, and military-styled boots. His coat has zippers on the sleeves and a buckle around the waist, and two brown, leather holsters on the back to carry Ebony & Ivory. Contrary to later games, Dante does not wear any form of clothing underneath his coat, going shirtless throughout the whole game, displaying his silver half of the Perfect Amulet around his neck, as well as his bare, well-toned chest and muscular physique. Following Dante's first battle with Vergil, his half of the amulet is stolen and the right sleeve of his coat is damaged, with Dante tearing it off afterwards. In his final confrontation with Vergil, his left glove is slashed across the palm by Yamato, and the epilogue shows that Dante keeps it on his desk, perhaps in remembrance of his lost brother.

In the original Devil May Cry and the anime adaptation, Dante wears red pants with two black belts wrapped around his right thigh, a black, leather belt, black gloves, and high, black boots. Dante's coat is much simpler in design, with an upturned collar and short sleeves with black cuffs, though the coat lacks coattails. Underneath the coat, Dante wears what appears to be a black long-sleeved shirt, with a red vest with black clasps over it. In numerous cutscenes, his half of the Perfect Amulet is once again on display, yet it appears infrequently and is not a permanent feature on his character model.

In Devil May Cry 2, Dante's outfit is identical to the one seen in the first game, but with more pronounced, poignant features. He wears high black boots and red jeans once more, yet has a single belt wrapped around each thigh. A belt featuring a skull themed buckle wraps around his waist, and he wears black, gauntlet shaped gloves with three buckled straps on each one. His coat is a deeper red than in the previous game, with two coattails, yet the coat has a more pronounced buckled collar, and a black strap going over his right shoulder wrapping around his chest, with two golden studs on the front. The front of the coat is also patterned individually from the rest of it, resembling a sort of vest or body armor, with a zipper closed all the way up from the waist to the bottom of Dante's neck, perhaps reflecting his introverted nature seen in the game.

In his most recent appearance in Devil May Cry 4, Dante's outfit arguably takes on it's most flamboyant look. Dante once more wears red pants, yet they are almost completely covered sans his crotch and rear by long, black leather motorcycle chaps featuring a brown, cowboy boot design around the ankles. He wears black, loafer looking boots, and black gloves exposing his knuckles and index finger on each hand, and his pants are wrapped with a black belt featuring a silver emblem decorated with a demonic skull. The coat is given a much more detailed and stylish look, with Western and Italian features, and a deep red, almost crimson color. Once more the coat is short sleeved, with numerous gold colored studs decorating the shoulders, collar, and chest, and a single zipper on the front, yet Dante is never seen zipping it up in-game. Underneath the coat Dante wears a black, zipped up undershirt with three clasps closed together with ornate, golden buckles, and medium length sleeves that can be seen passing his shoulders. This undershirt is also zipped up just below his neck, and features an upturned collar which complements the one on his coat. Another noticeable design choice separate from Dante's outfit is his chin, covered with short, black stubble, reflecting his older age, as series director for 2 through 4 Hideaki Itsuno states that Dante is "almost 40" by the events of Devil May Cry 4.

Personality
As seen in the beginning of the series, Dante is incredibly flippant, casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of demons, and he generally enjoys showing off and taunting his adversaries as often as he can. Dante also displays a fearless, almost disinterested attitude towards incredibly dangerous situations, such as assuming Trish simply had to use the bathroom after crashing through his office's front door on a motorcycle, being attacked by the Seven Hells in his office, being swallowed by Echidna, and effortlessly shrugging off wounds such as a head shot or impalement numerous times, the latter of which happens quite frequently for the Devil Hunter.

While maturing as time goes by, Dante never loses his care-free, devil-may-care attitude, except in Devil May Cry 2. He can be serious when the situation calls for it, but still maintains an overall laid-back demeanor during tense situations, and is never without a witty taunt or comeback. Although seemingly shown at times to be uncaring or callous, Dante maintains a very strong sense of justice like his father, and prefers to fight fairly, never fighting humans or opponents weaker than him. He can be counted on to do the right thing, even if he makes humorously cynical quips about it the entire time.

Unusually, while he has displayed discomfort with his own demonic side, only coming to accept it following the events of Devil May Cry 3, Dante has little qualms about accepting demons that choose the side of good and admires their desire to be human, such as Trish and Bradley. Though Dante is quoted as believing that "Humans are often worse than demons" in the anime, he refuses to kill full-blooded humans for any reason, believing it would make him no better than any Devil, be it human or demon.

In addition, Dante values family and friends very highly. He cared deeply for his mother and, despite their differences and conflicting ideals, for his brother, Vergil. Even after their intense duels and conflicts in Devil May Cry 3, Dante still tries to prevent Vergil from willingly falling off the edge of the Human World into the Demon World, and goes so far as to cry over losing him. While he says little about his father, Sparda, over the course of the series, Dante has been shown to clearly maintain a level of respect for him. While bitterly claiming that "[he doesn't] have a father" in his first fight with Vergil in 3, he grows to respect him as the game goes on, proudly claiming in his final duel with his brother that not only do they carry Sparda's blood, but his soul as well. He also makes a humorous comment towards Arkham, smugly claiming that his father wasn't as hideous as his twisted form, citing his own physical appearance as proof.

Dante also enjoys fighting, shown when he restrains himself from using his full potential. In Devil May Cry 4, he was clearly going easy on his nephew Nero in their first confrontation, soundly defeating him in their second clash. In the anime, Dante gets bored with fighting weak opponents and only finds entertainment in fighting strong opponents who will give him a challenge. Dante's enjoyment of fighting was further emphasized in his pre-battle banter with Echidna, asking her if she agreed with him that "a fight every now and then makes life more interesting".

Despite Dante's handsome appearance, he often has terrible luck with women, a condition he ironically reflects upon in Devil May Cry 3 when Lady shoots him through the head after he attempts to keep her from falling.

In the animated series, Dante was shown to be one of the few characters in the Devil May Cry series to swear. Dante was frequently shown to be foul-mouthed, repeatedly swearing in almost every episode.

Despite verbally complaining about being in debt, Dante seems quite willing to perform missions solely for the good of them, and rarely, if ever, enforces payment from poor clients. In fact, Dante will typically refuse any job he dislikes, regardless of how much it pays, but will immediately take on any paranormal cases, especially those involving demon hunting, with or without pay. Many of his clients take advantage of his hospitable nature, and leave bills for property damage caused during the mission instead of paying for his services. Interestingly, despite his claims of having low funds, Dante still manages to pool up enough money to buy pricey luxuries for his office, such as a pool table, a jukebox, and several expensive pieces of musical equipment such as electric guitars.

He often borrows from Lady, attempting to gamble to repay his debts to her and others. However, he has extremely bad luck with all forms of gambling, even something as simple as a coin toss, and loses any game not involved with demon hunting. As a result, he is deep in debt to Lady, and is often left with no money at all after she takes her cut. However, in Devil May Cry 4, Lady actually pays him a small, single role of bills for his "assistance", implying that he no longer owes her money. Dante has a fondness for pizza, usually with "everything" on it, and while he complains about olives, he always ends up with them on his pizza. In the animated series, he is also shown to favor strawberry sundaes as well, with it being pointed out on several occasions that those two foods are seemingly all he eats. He also has a fondness for alcohol, specifically beer.

Devil May Cry 4
While Nero's first encounter with Dante serves as a tutorial, the second fight is much harder, as he will begin using all four of his styles, as well as his Devil Trigger. It should be noted that, on higher difficulty modes, the battle in Mission 1 becomes just as difficult as the Mission 10 encounter.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
As part of a deal with the company Atlus, Dante, in his Devil May Cry 2 incarnation, makes a special guest appearance in the updated Maniax version of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, released as Shin Megami Tensei: Noctune and Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in US and European territories, respectively.

In the story of the game, an event which recreates the world called the Conception occurs, killing almost every human in Tokyo save the few who may hold the key to recreating it. Dante is mentioned by an NPC before the Conception occurs as a "strange foreigner wearing a red cloak and carrying a big sword" walking around Tokyo, and later survives the Conception, being hired by a mysterious old man to kill the protagonist, the Demi-fiend. He is faced as a boss twice throughout the game, once in a mandatory fight, and again in an optional encounter in the Third Kalpa of the Labyrinth of Amala. He can later be recruited to the party in the entrance of the Fifth Kalpa, where he uses the same coin seen in Devil May Cry 2 to decide the fee for his services. His attacks are all based around his sword Rebellion and pistols Ebony and Ivory, using skills such as Roundtrip and Stinger.

Viewtiful Joe
Dante is a playable character in the PS2 version of the game, where he must save Trish. He later appears in the PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble as a bonus character, where he lends his biplane, Karnival, to Captain Blue for a scene in one of his movies, and he and the player race to defeat the boss of the stage.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Dante is a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in his Devil May Cry 3 outfit. He is first seen in a trailer facing off against Deadpool, his rival in the game. In his ending, he prepares to square off against Ghost Rider. Interestingly, his physical features seem to be based off of his Devil May Cry 4 incarnation, but his outfit and repertoire is directly lifted from Devil May Cry 3. In the updated re-release, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Dante receives a new ending where he is approached by Mephisto, who attempts to tempt Dante into signing a contract with him with the promise of reviving his mother and improving relations with Vergil. Dante responds by threatening to kill him unless Mephisto can provide him a job that will pay excessively, so Mephisto requests Dante to take out his son, Blackheart. He also appears in Ghost Rider's ending where he, Ghost Rider, and Trish threaten Mephisto's life, forcing him to undo a contract.

Other

 * Dante is featured as a character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter DS.
 * Dante makes a cameo in Jedah Dohma's ending in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
 * Dante appears in the multi-crossover game Project X Zone alongside Lady. Dante forms a single unit alongside Demitri Maximoff, the demonic vampire of the Darkstalkers series. In combat, he fights with Rebellion, Ebony & Ivory, Coyote-A, and Nevan, yet interestingly takes on his appearance as seen in Devil May Cry 1. He is also slated to appear in the sequel, Project X Zone 2, this time partnered with Vergil.
 * Dante appears as a Rasta in Monster Hunter Frontier G, and his outfit is available as obtainable armor for players.
 * Dante's Devil May Cry 1 appearance is featured as a DLC costume for Masamune Date in Sengoku Basara 4, and his swords are also replaced by Alastor.
 * Classic Dante appears as an unlockable icon in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.
 * In Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Dante's coat and and hairstyle, as well as the Devil Arm Alastor, were available for players for a limited time after completing a quest titled "Gravios May Cry".

Trivia

 * Dante's name comes from Dante Alighieri, who was a great Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, Divine Comedy, is often referenced or used thematically throughout the Devil May Cry series.
 * Dante seems to favor Jack Daniel's, a brand of whiskey, as his preferred choice of alcohol. He is seen drinking this brand in the anime and several bottles of it are scattered around his office in the epilogue to Devil May Cry 4.
 * Interestingly, Dante appears to have a few similarities to Alucard from the Hellsing anime series. Both wear a red coat, and wield twin guns of opposing colors; Ebony and Ivory in Dante's case, and the Casull and the Jackal in Alucard's case.
 * In ScrewAttack!'s DEATH BATTLE series, Dante battles Bayonetta, using several of his Devil Arms, and briefly fighting alongside Trish before she was knocked away by Jeanne. Ultimately, Dante won the battle due to his regenerating ability and making Bayonetta's Witch Time useless with his Quicksilver Style.

Gallery
For a collection of all images relating to Dante, please see Gallery:Dante.